Marine Engineer Career
A Marine Engineer designs, builds and works to maintain a vast variety of ships. These ships could include everything from submarines to sailboats and even military aircraft carriers. Usually, Marine Engineers are responsible for the inner workings of a ship such as the propulsion and steering systems. Naval architects are the ones who will primarily design the form and structure of the vessels, but they work very closely with marine engineers.
Marine Engineering is not entirely about working on ships. Someone with a career in this field may also be designing floating marine structures like oil rigs and offshore wind farms. Marine Engineers could also create and work on the equipment used by oceanographers.
Marine Engineer Career Snapshot
Marine Engineers can work in a couple different places throughout their creative and building processes. They typically begin their designing in an office where there is access to specialized equipment and computer programs. They may then also be on the new ships during testing. There is then a possibility they go out to sea on one of their ships to maintain its systems.
Further details on a career as a marine engineer are listed below (statistics from the May 2015 Bureau of Labor Statistics and Onet Online):
is the average yearly salary for marine engineers.
increase in employment between 2014 and 2024.
have a Bachelor’s degree while 9% have a Master’s degree.
Marine Engineer Education
Around 78% of Marine Engineers hold a bachelor’s degree, and 9% hold a master’s degree. Many employers also value experience in the field, so a cooperative education program is very beneficial to those looking to break into the field.
Marine Engineer Job Duties
Marine Engineers work very closely with naval architects to design, build and maintain ships. They must comply with international regulations when developing the ship’s internal systems, and make sure that all automatic controls, alarm systems and emergency operations work properly.
Marine Engineer Salaries
According to the BLS.gov, in 2015 the median pay of a Marine Engineer was $93,110 annually. The top 10% making around $149,330 a year, and the bottom 10% with an annual salary of about $61,110. Wages may be determined due to the engineer’s experience, tenure as well as expertise.
Marine Engineer Job Outlook
The need for Marine Engineers is expected to increase 9% from 2014 to 2024. This is faster than the average of all other occupations. This may partly be due to the push of Marine Engineers to develop more eco-friendly vessels and structures.
Marine Engineer Skills & Traits
| Marine Engineer Skill Set: | Required Abilities: | Tools Used by Marine Engineers: | Typical Work Activities: |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Critical Thinking • Active Listening • Reading Comprehension • Speaking • Complex Problem Solving | • Deductive Reasoning • Inductive Reasoning • Information Ordering • Near Vision • Problem Sensitivity | • Desktops/laptops • Hard hats • Safety glasses • Computer aided design CAD software | • Deductive Reasoning • Inductive Reasoning • Information Ordering • Near Vision • Problem Sensitivity |
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